TRAIN WRECK IN SHOP WINDOW (New York Times, 1895)

Reid · TRAIN WRECK IN SHOP WINDOW (New York Times, 1895)

There are three points of unmentioned interest to the following story
wherein thousands, thousands perished!

Ingersoll was the maker of the famous Dollar Watch.

William N. Weeden, American inventor of mass-produced, inexpensive toy steam,
launched his steam engine company in the mid 1880s after a period of
successful service to the Ingersoll company as its general foreman of manufacturing.
Weeden was a great talent--but died young at age fifty in 1891.

It may be safely presumed that the train in question was of Weeden manufacture.

I don't know if the story contains a parable, but it sure does contain
a warning and also a strange re-meeting of market forces:
the famous watch company that put tickers in every poor man's pocket,
and the toy steam company that put model engines into the hands of hundreds of thousands of young Americans,
Lee DeForest, later the inventor of the triode vacuum tube, being just one of them.

Watch Out for the Train

Reid

johnreid

Priceless piece of Journalism there.

Reid

Reid

It attracted a crowd by the high speed of its running, they say.

Today this feat could be replicated so well only by a Mamod engine on lousy track
running under arches festooned with thousands, thousands of Swatch Watches.

Oh, and muslin. We still need muslin or maybe crepe paper.
Some kerosene too would be a help.

Idea for Next Year's STIA event: an historical reenactment.

toxx

... fascinating, Reid!

I actually have a dollar watch. Still runs nicely.

talluncle31 · Train wreck

It is I suppose a 50-50 chance it was a Weeden, but if it ran fast then I'd put my money on it being a Beggs, a far better performer than a Dart.

mc_mc

johnreid

Muslins, not Moslems

I am also against violins on television.

Reid

What did I start?

As thread starter, I reserve sole right of manufacture of deadly puns.

Which beggs the question of this newbie: tell us more about the Beggs toy steam engines of that era?
Am unfamilar with the name or history.

Tell too about the Weeden dart?

Reid

Am now curious to learn about these early models.

Google search result, an ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/WEEDEN-DART-S...hZ016QQcategoryZ487QQcmdZViewItem

here are some of the images of that failed auction

tmuir

Weeden locos look very flimsy to me compared to my German ones but the Weedens are older and fetch very high prices.

talluncle31

I wrote the comment about the engine being more likely a Beggs than a Weeden, but forgot to add my name. It is Murray Wilson.

Eugene Beggs was in production for 37 years in Patterson, New Jersey, and patented his design in 1871. This of course was well before the model gauges were standardised and Beggs engines are a nominal 1 7/8" gauge. Most often seen are the 2-2-2s, the rarest and earliest are 4-4-0s. Most Beggs engines were built to run in a left hand circle, usually about 5 feet diameter. Unlike the Weeden Dart the Beggs are long running and powerful, even though they operate at such low pressure that my 4-4-0 from the 1870s has a cork rather than a screwed filler plug in the boiler. Later engines did have a screwed plug.

I run the Beggs regularly, still with their original lead cylinders and brass pistons. An old stationary engine may make its owner happy by simply spinning its flywheel, but a locomotive has to get out on the rails and haul something. This is where Beggs really outshines Weeden.

If someone will advise me how to attach photos I will send one or two. Maybe to the locomotive group will be more appropriate.

Incidentally, it is sometimes said the Weeden Dart will run on Lionel 'Standard Gauge' track. It won't. It will stand on it, but due to its narrow wheel treads and the tubular form of the rail it will derail as soon as it starts to move. Weeden rail was made of flat strip, as was Beggs.

Murray Wilson

johnreid

In order to post pictures, first you need to have them on the web, most of us here use Photo bucket for that purpose
http://photobucket.com/
It is easy to sign up for a free account and then upload your pictures to the Photobucket account
Next, you can look at your Album on photobucket and there are 4 yellowed boxes under each picture. Click on the one that says IMG CODE and the URL is automatically copied onto your Clipboard all you need to do then is paste that into the posting window here.
I and many others request that if you can, keep the image at 800 pixels wide or less as big pictures are not as easy to enjoy when on has to scroll back and forth
I hope that this helps, if you have other questions, just ask as everyone here is more than willing to be of assistance.

johnreid

Here are Talluncles Photos and the description he sent to me with them

The photos are of a Beggs 4-4-0
made about 1875. It has been considerably cosmetically restored but not
mechanically and is an excellent runner.

In the view from underneath, with the burner removed, you can see how the
engine is built to run on a continuous left hand curve. The first drive axle
is at an angle to the chassis and the truck is pivoted very much off centre.

Although the boiler is rolled up from sheet and seamed you cannot see the
seam because it is at about 2 0'clock. This reduces the chance of a boiler
leak should the boiler run dry. The nickel plate finish you see on the
boiler in the side view is a jacket.

Another unusual feature is that the burner flames are vented out the sides
about half way up the boiler. This saves the boiler from being scorched and
keeps the fire out of sight and out of breeze.

The cylinders are single acting, the cranks are therefore at 180º, but there
are connecting rods between the drivers. Contrary to what might be expected
this does not cause jamming on this engine, but I don't know of any other
maker who risked doing this. Bing (and Aster on the Old Faithful) added a
fly crank on one side to allow the crank pins to be at 90º and the pistons
at 180º if they used coupling rods with single acting cylinders. Other
makers just did without coupling rods.

TRAIN WRECK IN SHOP WINDOW (New York Times, 1895)

Train wreck